Pre-Season National ITA Rankings
As we enter the 2019 season as the defending NCAA
team champions and have achieved the #1 national ranking in the ITA pre-season
poll (https://www.r2sports.com/system/rankings/ITArankings.asp),
we remain vigilant that we do not become complacent. There are a host of
phenomenal teams across the country that we will compete against, and we are
keenly aware that we need to do everything within our control to prepare be at
our very best to face the many difficult challenges that lie ahead this season.
With excitement for the 2019 season building during J-Term, the
Panther players and coaching staff are both hard at work. With only one class
on their plate and led by a strong core of returning leadership, the Panther
players were focused on sharpening their games, competing with each other, and
building their off-court fitness. The coaching staff was also hard at work on
the recruiting trail and is thrilled to be able to announce the roll-out of our
most recently installed project, PlaySight!
PlaySight
In January, we completed the installation of permanently
wired high-definition cameras on ten of our tennis courts (4 indoor courts and
6 outdoor courts) that will provide live streaming and video capture throughout
the Spring season! Our Middlebury Squash program also outfitted seven of their
courts with similar technology. We will of course be following up with many
more details about watching the live stream for our home matches this year, as
well as an updated live scoring system that we plan to roll out for both home
and away matches. It should be a very exciting year to be a fan of Middlebury
Tennis, and we want to thank everyone in our Middlebury Tennis Family who has
generously contributed to this on-going project!
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| Check out this image of Court 2 in Nelson captured by our PlaySight camera. |
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| Our leader describing the impact of adding PlaySight to our Middlebury courts. |
Alumni Spotlight: Teddy Fitzgibbons '14
It is always amazing for us as a coaching staff to hear and
learn about the incredible accomplishments of our Middlebury Tennis Alumni. We
wanted to give a special shout out on the blog for the singular prosocial efforts
of Teddy Fitzgibbons ’14. Outside of his full-time job in finance, Teddy started a
nonprofit called Hearty Start in January of 2015 with the goal of supporting
the vulnerable homeless population in New York City. Just four years after its
inception, Hearty Start reported delivering more than 78,000 meals and another 25,000 water
bottles / juice boxes this past year!
Well done Teddy and keep up the phenomenal work! To learn more or support Teddy and Hearty
Start, please check out this link: https://www.heartystart.org/
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| Fitzgibbons '14 looking highly professional these days! |
Alumni Weekend (April 6th and 7th)
We cordially invite you to watch some great tennis, to have a chance to get back on your home courts with some open court and round robin tennis on Saturday, and also to join us at a Happy Hour hosted by the coaching staff that will take place after matches have been completed on Saturday. We will be competing against Wesleyan on Saturday, and hosing both Connecticut College and Emory University on Sunday. As a reminder, please RSVP to the coaching staff (athomson.middlebury@gmail.com or bob.w.hansen@gmail.com) so that we can order an appropriate amount of food and drinks on Saturday.
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| A team photo of the 2004 NCAA National Champion Panthers! |
Senior Night (April 13th)
The Senior Night celebration for our players
and their families will occur on Saturday, April 13th. We will host
a dinner in conjunction with our women’s team after our match versus Tufts
University that day. After properly celebrating our accomplished senior group,
we will compete against Williams College the next day. Please RSVP to let us know if you will be joining us if you
have not already.
Fundraising
A huge thank you to all those who have provided us
with incredibly supportive donations that are crucial to support our projects such as
the new live streaming system. Your support is also critical in allowing us to go on our annual
spring break trip. To provide additional financial support for your Middlebury
Men’s Tennis Program, please click on the following link: http://sites.middlebury.edu/middgoal/2015/08/27/mens-tennis-training-trip-2/
The Middlebury Men's Tennis Coaching Staff
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